Miller Magazine Issue: 125 May 2020

32 NEWS MILLER / MAY 2020 ADM to reduce ethanol grind in response to market conditions Due to the challenging operating environment, the Ar- cher Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is currently ma- naging ethanol production throughout its U.S. corn pro- cessing network to focus on cash flows and to divert corn grind to other products that are in higher demand, such as alcohol for hand sanitizer. As part of this process, ADM is temporarily idling ethanol production at the company’s corn dry mill facilities in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Colum- bus, Nebraska. ADM notified approximately 90 employees in each facility today that they will be furloughed in the co- ming weeks. During the furlough, employees will continue to receive medical benefits and will be eligible to apply for state and federal unemployment benefits. They will also have the option to apply for other open positions at ADM. ADM has also reduced the ethanol grind at its corn wet mill plants and rebalanced grind to produce more indust- rial alcohol for the sanitizer market and industrial starches for the containerboard market to better align production with current demand. “These are very difficult decisions in a very challenging time, and unfortunately, the current market conditions and the low consumer demand for gasoline at this time have greatly impacted the entire ethanol industry,” said Chris Cuddy, president, Carbohydrate Solutions. “Our primary focus is the respect and care of our employees during this time, and we are doing everything we can to support them until market conditions improve and we can look at ways to restart production.” ‘Turkey will not see virus-induced food shortage’ Claims that the novel coronavirus pandemic will cause a food shortage in Turkey are not rational because the country has no issues with agricultural production, especially of ce- reals, says an agriculture expert. Turkey, which produces around 20 million tons of wheat annually, is a self-sufficient country, Orhan Ozcatalbas told Anadolu Agency. "Expectations of famine in the next 3-4 years for a country which has planted wheat on seven million hecta- res of land before the coronavirus epidemic is unrealistic unless there are unusual climatic factors," he said. Touching on Russia's suspension of wheat exports as a protectio- nist measure due to the coronavi- rus, he said Turkey imports wheat from Russia for manufacturing and exporting industrial products such as biscuits, flour, pasta and semoli- na and not for domestic consump- tion, including bread. He said the country imported 60 million tons of wheat in the last two decades and exported produ- cts equivalent to 70 million tons of wheat in the same period. Turkey, which increased its flour exports twofold and pasta exports by more than sixfold in the last decade, is the world’s largest flour exporter and second-largest pasta exporter, Ozcatalbas noted. He said the psychological environment caused by the virus epidemic has affected the agriculture sector as well as other sectors. "As a sector that produces food for hu- man consumption, the importance and indispensability of agriculture were seen,” he added. "Countries panicked by the coronavirus outbreak such as Italy and Spain are having difficulty handling it," he said. If the pandemic cannot be brought under control, countries with an insufficient labor force will face great difficulties in agricultural production, he noted. GOVERNMENT SHOULD TAKE ADDITIONAL MEASURES During this period when borders are closed, some countries, including Italy, France and the Netherlands, will find it difficult to hire foreign workers from other count- ries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Morocco, Ozcatalbas war- ned. He underlined that this situ- ation may lead to a shrinkage of the agricultural sector, usage of stocks, imports and food safety problems in these countries. "Turkey has a great advantage because it has its seasonal agri- cultural workforce, but it does not mean there will be no prob- lems in this area,” he said. He noted that the government should plan an agricultural ca- lendar for seasonal workforces considering labor demand perio- ds. "The decisions and measures taken by the Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Ministry regarding the hygiene, shelter and health services of seasonal and permanent workers and their families were important," he said. He said the govern- ment should also introduce additional measures for the agricultural sector such as financial support for farmers and their families to ensure the continuity of agricultural production. AA Orhan Ozcatalbas